THE RIDGEWAY NATIONAL TRAILStage 4: Goring to Nuffield Common

Sunday, October 14, 2012

(1) Goring Village Hall

(2) Path leaving Goring

(3) River Thames north of Goring

(4) The Leatherne Bottel

My fourth stage of the Ridgeway was a short sprint compared to the previous
stages.
After spending the morning moving from Swindon to London, I returned to the
town of Goring-on-Thames, reaching the place where I had left the trail the
previous afternoon, on the corner of High Street and Thames Road, opposite the
Village Hall (picture 1).
I set out on the walk just before half-past three on a cool and sunny afternoon,
giving me a little over three hours until sunset.

The route of the Ridgeway follows the length of the residential Thames Road,
then continues ahead on a narrow footpath behind houses to Cleeve Road,
where the route turns left.
At the end of the road, a Ridgeway signpost points along the rightmost of two
tarmac lanes.
The narrow lane runs through trees (picture 2), sandwiched between the River
Thames and the Great Western Main Line, though the river is mostly hidden from
view except for a couple of brief gaps in the foliage (picture 3) until the
lane emerges above a riverside restaurant called the Leatherne Bottel.
The path passes behind the restaurant, but I first made a brief diversion down
to the water's edge in front of it (picture 4).

(5) River Thames

(6) Thurle Down

(7) Thurle Down

(8) Approaching South Stoke

On the more open opposite bank of the river, the section of the Thames Path National
Trail between Streatley and Wallingford runs parallel to this section of the
Ridgeway (picture 5).

The Ridgeway follows a broad lane behind the restaurant and the Goring Thames
Sailing Club and past a few houses perched above the river in an area called
Thurle Down (picture 6).
After some more views of the river (picture 7), the lane bears right through a
patch of woods, degenerating into a narrow footpath before emerging from the
woods on the edge of the Withymead Nature Reserve, now quite a bit further away
from the river and close to the railway line again with trains passing regularly.
A well-defined path across the nature reserve takes the Ridgeway to the village
of South Stoke (picture 8).

(9) The Perch & Pike, South Stoke

(10) St Andrew's Church, South Stoke

(11) GWR viaducts cross the Thames

(12) Path beside the Thames

The path enters the village at the end of The Street, which is followed ahead
through South Stoke, passing the 17th-century Perch & Pike pub (picture 9)
and St Andrew's Church (picture 10).
At the end of The Street, the Ridgeway bears left at a junction to follow Ferry
Lane out of the village and back down to the bank of the Thames.

The path heads upstream along the reed-lined riverbank with the large river-front
properties of the village of Moulsford on the far bank.
After a kilometre the path passes under the graceful arches of a pair of railway
viaducts that carry the four tracks of Brunel's Great Western Main Line over the
Thames (picture 11).

Gradually leaving behind the sounds of the trains that thunder across the
viaducts every few minutes, the Ridgeway continues to follow the riverbank
beside a series of fields for another one and a half kilometres (picture 12)
before the riverbank is blocked by a fenced enclosure signed as private
property.
Along this stretch of the river I was passed by a variety of boats heading
downstream, including a large cruiser, several canalboats and a lonely rower.

(13) Approaching North Stoke

(14) Church of St Mary the Virgin, North Stoke

(15) Mill Stream, North Stoke

(16) Spring Hotel and Golf Club

The Ridgeway heads around behind the fenced enclosure, then follows a succession
of field edge paths that gradually diverge from the course of the Thames as the
route heads towards the village of North Stoke, with the low hills that were the
goal of the afternoon's walk in the background to the right (picture 13).

At the end of the last field the path heads through trees and scrub to find a
gate into the churchyard of North Stoke's Church of St Mary the Virgin
(picture 14).
The path passes the end of the church before turning right to head through the
lych gate and into the short Church Lane then left along The Street.

Some distance along, near the far end of the village, The Street passes by an old
mill and crosses the Mill Stream (picture 15).
A little further, The Street ends and the Ridgeway continues ahead inside a strip
of trees beside a golf course (picture 16).
Eventually the golf course ends and the quiet path continues through Mongewell Park
and then along a tarmac drive through the grounds of Carmel College before a narrow
paved footpath takes the Ridgeway up to the side of the A4130 Nosworthy Way.

(17) The Lodge, Mongewell

(18) Lonesome Farm

(19) Trig point on the path

(20) Blenheim Farm

The path reaches the roadside by a couple of sets of horse-mounting steps, a
reminder that this part of the Ridgeway is a bridleway.
The Ridgeway ignores a tunnel ahead under the road (a path to the town of
Wallingford) and instead turns right to follow a narrow path through trees
parallel to the A4130 for about 500 metres to reach the A4074 Port Way between
a roundabout where the A4130 ends and an attractive old roadside lodge
(picture 17).

The Ridgeway crosses over the busy road and climbs up through trees onto a
low bank between fields.
This bank is part of a mysterious ancient earthwork, known as Grim's Ditch,
which the Ridgeway follows for the next six kilometres.

For the first couple of kilometres the path climbs gently on top of the
tree-lined bank, with the fields of Lonesome Farm stretching out to the
left (picture 18).
Along the way the path passes by a concrete trig point on top of the bank
(picture 19).
Used by the Ordnance Survey for mapping before the age of GPS and satelite
imagery, these are more often found on hilltops than on man-made structures.

A gap in the trees just beyond the trig point gives views downhill across
Blenheim Farm (picture 20).

(21) Cart Gap

(22) Grim's Ditch

(23) Oaken Copse

(24) Bachelor's Hill

A little further on, a quiet country lane cuts through the bank at Cart Gap
(picture 21), as does a second lane about 500 metres further along the bank.
The latter lane carries two other long-distance routes, the Swan's Way and the
Chiltern Way.

On the other side, Grim's Ditch starts to look a little more like a ditch
(picture 22) as it heads into Oaken Copse (picture 23).
Emerging on the other side of the copse, the path starts to climb Bachelor's
Hill, once again inside a narrow strip of trees between fields (picture 24).

(25) Bachelor's Hill

(26) Signpost at the end of Grim's Ditch

(27) View towards Didcot

(28) Holy Trinity Church, Nuffield

The path winds it's way across Bachelor's Hill, some parts of the path raised,
some quite sunken (picture 25).
About two and a half kilometres after leaving Oaken Copse, the Ridgeway meets a
signpost at the end of Grim's Ditch indicating a left turn (picture 26), the
route following a field-edge path northwards with far-reaching views
westwards to the now quite familiar Didcot Power Station and beyond (picture 27).
This was a good place from which to watch the sunset.

On reaching a wooden gate by a road on the edge of the village of Nuffield, the
route turns right, following the road past the 12th-century Holy Trinity Church
(picture 28) before bearing left through a gap in the hedgerow.

(29) Approaching Huntercombe Golf Club

(30) Huntercombe Golf Club

(31) A4130 Gangsdown Hill

(32) The Crown, Nuffield Common

The path now heads across a grassy meadow and a short distance to the left of
the clubhouse of the Huntercombe Golf Club (picture 29) which occupies part of
Nuffield Common.
In the twilight I followed the signposted route across the golf course (picture
30), passing a couple of parties of golfers who were keen to use the last of
the daylight.

After crossing several fairways, the Ridgeway heads past a tee, between two
houses and down their gravel driveway to the side of the A4130 Gangsdown Hill,
where a signpost points across the road (picture 31).
This was as far as I was going today, having completed 16.1 kilometres in a
little over three hours.

Just up the road to the right is the Crown pub (picture 32), though
unfortunately it wasn't open for business on a Sunday night and I had to while
away the 35 minutes until the last bus of the day at a picnic table outside.
Had I arrived a few minutes earlier I would have been able to get a bus to
Henley-on-Thames for an easy train connection back to London, but as it was I had
to get a bus to Wallingford and then a second bus to Reading Station, making for
quite a lengthy journey back to my accomodation on an evening when the chill of
the approaching winter was definitely noticable.